Kukla's Korner Hockey

The joker in the deck, however, is how incumbent Miikka Kiprusoff, the silent Finn, will react to the support (threat?) posed by a goalie who, although 40 and well past his peak, has still won 446 regular-season NHL games and himself been feted as a Vezina Trophy finalist.

The Flames can argue until they’re blue in the face that Joseph’s arrival means a fresher, more motivated Kipper, that he will embrace the competition and chance to swap stories and secrets with a fellow lodge brother.

Nobody’s trying to turn this into a goaltending controversy, but Kiprusoff could easily interpret the signing as a lack of faith, a kind of betrayal.